Tent City About To Fold

FORT LAUDERDALE - — - The tents that have sheltered homeless people for more than five years will be folded for good by Friday, more than a month ahead of schedule.

"I looked out today [from City Hall], and we're down to one [tent]," Mayor Jim Naugle said on Wednesday. "It took a lot longer than we wanted. I never dreamt it would take five years."

Steve Werthman, coordinator of homeless programs, said the county moved up the March 15 closing date for Tent City because moving people to the new Homeless Assistance Center on Sunrise Boulevard had gone more smoothly than expected.

"We have a good momentum," Werthman said. "Secondly, there's always the potential that people can come from out of town and move into the tent while it's still there. For both of those reasons, we can continue to move quickly and be rid of the thing once and for all."

But even as city officials made plans to clear the site across from City Hall and chase off stragglers who don't want to go to the new center, other people were searching for a new spot where the homeless could gather and meals would be served.

Bob Semak, vice president of Love Thy Neighbor, which coordinates the churches that feed the homeless at Tent City, said the city needs to make some provision for helping homeless people who don't move to the new shelter.

"If Love Thy Neighbor has done one thing for the homeless, we have instilled in them a feeling of self-worth and simple dignity, which would preclude their resorting to living out of garbage cans and dumpster-diving, which was how they survived in the past," Semak told the Broward Coalition for the Homeless, which operates the new center.

He predicted that homeless people would resort to "stealing, robbing and grabbing purses" rather than dig through garbage for food.

FOR THE RECORD - PUBLISHED FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 1999Because of an editing error, an article about Tent City on page 1B of Thursday's edition incorrectly named the agency that operates the new Homeless Assistance Center. The Broward Partnership for the Homeless operates the new center.We regret the error.

The Broward Coalition for the Homeless agreed on Wednesday that the county and city should find a site for the homeless to be fed and provided with social services.

Semak proposed using state-owned land on the north side of Broward Boulevard, just west of Interstate 95. But Bud Bentley, assistant city manager, said that site is not likely to be approved because an open-air feeding program would violate zoning laws.

Naugle and two other commissioners said they would not endorse the board's recommendation for a feeding site anywhere in the city.

"It's the wrong tactic," Commissioner Tim Smith said. "We need to provide tough love and demand they get help and become productive citizens."

Commissioner Carlton Moore said neighboring businesses and residents should not be subjected to the problems that could result from having the homeless congregate.

"What happens after the feedings? Where do they go? Who cleans up after them?" Moore said. "We have done more than any other municipal government, and there's no need to do any more."

Fred Scarbrough, director of a Methodist ministry for the homeless and a member of the coalition, supports setting up a new feeding program.

"What city commissioners] are afraid of is that it's going to turn into a Tent City," he said. "It will not. It will help them. They don't want those people on the street. They don't want to arrest them; they don't have enough jails for them."

Fort Lauderdale police were already training officers and making other preparations for dealing with homeless people who, they expected, would camp in public parks, doorways, under highway overpasses and on bus benches rather than move into the new center. Unlike Tent City, the new center has a curfew, a 90-day limit on stays and strict rules.

Police Cmdr. Bob Pusins said officers will be updated by this weekend on how to handle homeless people they encounter on the streets.

"We will anticipate an increase in police-homeless contact and will still take the position that we will prefer to refer those homeless to the Homeless Assistance Center whenever possible, including in lieu of arrest."

He said more police will be assigned to downtown if there is an increased need: "We will direct some of those resources to the downtown area in the upcoming weeks should we see any increase in illegal behaviors."

County officials said they moved 143 people out of the tents this month. Most went to the new center. Others were given bus tickets to their hometown or were placed in group homes.